Sheen’s Ultimate #Win: Do CBS Execs Want Charlie Back?

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Charlie Sheen at the 2009 Emmys.

Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic

Network bigwigs may be willing to shove aside the controversy in favor of the all-important ratings game.

According to RadarOnline, CBS President Les Moonves is talking up Charlie Sheen in an effort to get the tiger-blooded star back on Two and a Half Men.

Moonves is reportedly attempting to assuage the brass at Warner Bros. (like TIME, they’re owned by Time Warner), who infamously fired Sheen from the show two weeks ago. The show has proven to be ratings gold for CBS, and Moonves likely wants to keep the hot streak going, despite Sheen’s tirades.

(More on TIME.com: Do Charlie Sheen’s movie roles reflect his real life?)

In fact, CBS has remained free from the actor’s explosive comments. The bitter battle is primarily between Charlie and Two and a Half Men’s executive producer, Chuck Lorre, wishing him “nothing but pain” in a radio rant.

“Moonves told Chuck Lorre that he should ‘let [CBS] handle Charlie’,” RadarOnline’s inside source reports. “He says certain people need to forget anything and everything Charlie’s done recently and just move on with the business at hand.”

While Charlie was dumped, neither the network nor the production company had any intention of dropping the show entirely. In fact, potential replacements were soon circulated, including Rob Lowe and John Stamos. But neither agreed to replace Sheen.

(More on TIME.com: See the circumstances surrounding Sheen’s firing)

Two and a Half Men has long been a dominant comedy on television, but in the wake of Sheen’s firing, the usually highly-rated show dropped off 13 percent in their key demographic, the 18-49 age group. Would bringing back Sheen bring back the viewers? Though that leaves us wondering: after referring to the show’s execs as “trolls”, would Sheen even want to head back to Men?